We awoke refreshed and ready to go - no jet lag for us. It was beautiful weather, we had been warned that it would be rainy and cold. We got so lucky, blue skies and only a little cold. Today we did a double decker bus tour of the city. You could get on and off at each stop and explore and then get back on when you wanted. It had a headset with information about each place. It was overwhelming to see all these places that you see in movies, that I have heard about my whole life and then just be there! Chad and Hayley said I had a little bit of an obsession with the monopoly board. Growing up we played alot of the game. In Australia we used the U.K. version, so all the street names were so familiar to me. Each time we passed one from the game I could say what color it was, if I liked it and how expensive the area it was from its position on the board. It really was like traveling through my own little monopoly board, which to me was fascinating. I guess not for the others, they got sick of my references and I had to try and keep them to myself.
Our first sight of the Big Ben and houses of parliament - spectacular!
The tour was so interesting we were constantly looking in front to the sides and behind us at all the views.
We did a tour of the Tower of London, this place was built in 1078 by William the Conqueror. An amazing amount of history took place here. We saw the crown jewels which were guarded by guards like these. So Serious!
Out the front of the Tower of London, we found a subway to have lunch and enjoy the demonstrations of the huge catapults in what was then the moat surrounding the tower.
Then we went on a cruise down the Thames - again words cannot describe how cool it was. You pass under so many famous bridges, the Tower bridge, the London bridge, the millennium bridge. They did a little guided tour as we went and told us about how many people have committed suicide by jumping off the bridges. Later in the day, one of the bridges shut down and we saw police boats searching the water and helicopters circling over head - he sure was right!
We then walked around Westminster - which was the site for alot of the G20 summit protests just one week later, there were actually tents and people already lined up with signs.
We explored some back streets and somehow found through a school a back entrance to Westminster Abbey which was closed. We got to explore the place which again was beautiful, so old, Chads favorite part. It was so peaceful and there were so many cool things to look at and read.
The top of the double decker bus - lovin it, the only way to see London - very touristy but very cool!
The tower bridge in the background
St Pauls Cathedral -site of Charles and Dianas wedding
The Underground trip to our hotel -another full, exciting and exhausting day. Oh yeah we found a Thai place for dinner and again, not so good! Bad teeth and bad hair - reputation so far so true!
1 comment:
I've been on that same boat tour! It was one of my favorite parts.
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